Vibe, the music magazine founded nearly 16 years ago by legendary producer Quincy Jones, is shutting its doors, Editor Danyel Smith told the staff Tuesday.
"We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news," Smith wrote in the memo, obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The magazine blames its failure on the sagging economy and the collapse of print advertising, a common woe of other print journalism products, according to Steve Aaron, former CEO of VIBE Media Group.
"There are very few magazines with the richness of history and breadth of talented visionaries who created the powerful lens in which VIBE viewed and shaped urban music and culture," Aaron wrote in a separate memo to staff members.
Revenue growth from its web site, www.vibe.com, was not enough to offset the magazine's losses, Aaron said.
When the first issue hit newsstands in September 1992, then-editor Jonathan Van Meter called it a "black musical Rolling Stone," covering not just hip-hop but also the culture of the music.
Numerous Atlanta-based stars have appeared on the slick cover and pages over the years, including TLC, Usher, Outkast and T.I. Eminem is on the May cover of Vibe.
The magazine had 850,000 subscribers in June 2005 when the first Vibe MusicFest was held in Atlanta.
"It's a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand," Smith said.
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